


Horizon Bound

by lxpus23



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-07 19:06:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4274592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lxpus23/pseuds/lxpus23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel Novak is a rare type of person, the person that you never notice. You’ve been in school together since sixth grade, and yet, you never notice him. There’s the special kind of people that walk closely aligned with the walls, jaws firmly locked, and eyes that watches everything. Notices everything. Sometimes, the teachers don’t even bother calling his name, because they know that he is present. And if he isn’t, it’s not like anyone would notice anyway.<br/>Dean Winchester is another special kind of person. Unlike Castiel Novak, everyone notices him. Everyone knows who Dean Winchester is, even though he doesn’t participate in after school activities, like the football club, or anything like that. He just exists, but hell, he walks through the corridors as if he owned the whole world. Confident looking, ever so charming and utterly gorgeous, Dean freaking Winchester.<br/>Or, at least, that’s what Castiel thinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Monday - embodiment of evil

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, I apologize for this disaster of a first chapter. I'm not very good at beginnings, and I'm blaming this on all the ideas that I have for later chapters. It will get better - I hope.  
> Secondly, ENGLISH IS NOT MY MAIN LANGUAGE. There, I said it. English is not my main language, but I'll do my best and I'd love to get criticism from you guys, as long as you present it in a polite manner - mind you.  
> Thirdly, this is MY alternate universe, and my character interpretations. I apologize if it doesn't fit into your interpretations of these characters, but if it bothers you, don't read. I'm writing for fun, and sharing it because of the chances to improve my English.
> 
> Thank you for (hopefully) reading this opening rant, and I'd love to see you here again. Don't forget, if you like it, show it ;)  
> X

Six days had passed since Castiel Novak, 14, attended high school for the first time. He hated it, oh, how he hated it. All throughout the holidays, he’d done nothing else but begging his older brother Michael to take him out of it, to let him be home schooled instead. The answer, every single time, had been a ‘no’. No one could stay home with him to acutally do the home schooling, even though Castiel prompted that he could do it himself. The problem wasn’t actually learning stuff, it was fun and since he was a child, his intelligence had always surpassed that of his classmates’. No, the thing about high school, the thing that bothered him so was the hallways. The crowded hallways, full of people who would look down on him if they had the chance. They almost never had the chance, though, because they never noticed him. They never noticed the boy with dark choclate hair and eyes as blue as the ocean itself. They never saw him hurry along through the hallways, hugging the walls with a determined face.

To be looked down upon, or to be forever unseen, was the only two choices that Castiel had, and he couldn’t for his life know what hurt the most. To be fair, they probably hurt the same, even though the latter occured more frequentely.

* * *

 

Castiel’s top five list of horrible things consisted - in no particular order - of harsh sun, his brother Gabriel’s pranks, lockers, gym class and _Mondays_. Not the actual weekday itself, it could sometimes be the best day of the week, depending on what happened during the day, but the concept of Mondays were literally the embodiment of evil. The concept of giving people two days of freedom, two days without having to walk in corridors bearing heavily ressemblance to an asylum, and then abruptly ending said freedom with the concept of Mondays…

No, Castiel didn’t like Mondays, and he didn’t enjoy the concept of this Monday in particular. It was the first Monday of High School - Castiel had begun High School on the Tuesday the week before - and was therefore the first God forsaken, freedom ending day. Castiel was not happy, not at all, and directed his anger towards the bowl of cereal in front of him.

“What’s wrong, hotpants?” asked Gabriel, 18, merrily and lunged himself in the chair beside Castiel’s. He reached out and ruffled Castiel’s hair - still damp from his earlier shower.

“Leave me alone, Gabriel”, muttered the fourteen year old, glaring at his older brother and whipping his hand away. “Aren’t you supposed to go out looking for work, or stop bugging me, or anything?”

“Or actually getting his thumb out of his ass and attend college as he should?” Michael interrupted, walking into the kitchen, tie untied and coffee cup in his hand. The older brother shot Gabriel an urging glare, to which Gabriel just huffed a laugh.

“No thank you, Mikey, I prefer to place myself outside of the academic fuck-world of wonders.”

“Yeah, me too”, insisted Castiel. for the umptieth time. Michael didn’t even bother answering, he just shot him the usual look that always left Castiel in a state of confusion. Michael, somehow, managed to look caring, sad and angry at the same time, and Castiel couldn’t figure out what that look meant, not even if his life depended on it.  
But he understood the gist of it.   _Go to school, Castiel_.

And Castiel went to school. He hated it, and he felt like he’d rather claw his own eyeballs out, but he went. Because that was what was expected of him, and Castiel did what other people - in this case, Michael, the others really didn’t care that much - told him to. But he hated it, he hated every bit of it. He particularly hated the pale green lockers, as mostly they were simple proof of the kind of violence that only went on in school hallways, proof of the silent bullying. Not that Castiel’s locker was scribbled on, or had had its metal buckled after someone smashed a head into it. No, Castiel’s locker was simple, clean and as new as it could be, because nobody knew that Castiel walked the hallways with them. He was a ghost - no, barely even a ghost. He was a whisper of air, too faint to even notice…

* * *

 

Castiel was invisible, to everyone around him, and to himself. He walked through the hallways, carefully keeping close to the wall, the - too large - trenchcoat, which Michael had gifted him, fluttering around his ancles. His face was locked, only facing forward, though his eyes darted from place to place, taking in the environment. People were happy and sad and tired and surprised and _shit_ there were a ton of different emotions, most of them too complex for Castiel to even register. He didn’t like feelings, as they usually just went in the way of things. And he didn’t like the mix of emotions that some people had. How a person could be happy yet confused, or sad yet angry, or worse; delighted yet distraught, all went far beyond Castiel’s limited imagination.

“Hey, watch it”, said a voice, and Castiel walked straight into an extended arm, hindering him from walking headfirst into an open door.

“Sorry”, answered Castiel shortly after regaining his balance, turned his head to take a look on the one who’d saved him from a head-on disaster. A slightly taller boy stood next to him, still holding out his arm before Castiel, as if he’d run away… The boy had dirt-blond hair and calm, hazel-green eyes. Castiel found him self at a loss for words, which is why he just remained in the same position, meeting the other boy’s gaze.

“Don’t apologize, geez”, said the boy, smirking slightly. “Just would’ve been a shame if you’d walked into that door.” And with that, the boy left. Castiel remained still, gaze fixed at the boy’s back, feeling confused. The other boy… Castiel had seen him in the hallways. He always walked as if he owned the place, head held high and a faint smirk always resting on plump lips. Even if Castiel had never grasped the boy’s name, there was something about him, about his appearence and obvious confidence, and whenever he swaggered through the hallways, Castiel couldn’t help but to observe him closely.


	2. Achievement Get - Made a Friend

Castiel’s second week of high school passed, and weekend arrived. He absolutely loved the weekends, because that’s when he could spend the entire days on the living room floor, reading and doodling bumblebees across his homework. This particular Saturday, though, Castiel did not read as efficient as usual, and he only realized that he’d been reading the same two pages for half an hour when Michael called him out on it.

“You all right, Castiel?” he asked, rather sheepishly. “You’ve been reading the same page forever now… Is it about school? I know you don’t want to, and I wish you didn’t have to, but it’s for the best. And it is what father whishes…”

Castiel rose at the mention of their father, sent Michael an angry glare while gathering his stuff and retreating to his room. He wasn’t going to take the discussion, because he knew very well that the eventual fight with Michael would have been long lost before Castiel even had had the time to open his mouth. Michael was the eldest and well-articulated, while Castiel became distraught at the very mention of their father. He was a touchy subject among all of the brothers even though it’d been seven years since they’d left their old home in southern Wyoming. Castiel had only been seven but the memories never let go.

* * *

 

_“21 July, 2008_

_Luci yelled at me today, I pushed over his stack of books by accident and he snapped. But he’s probably just very tired, says Gabriel. I should not worry, and I’m not that sad. I know he doesn’t really mean it. I’m hiding in my room though, because it’d be better to keep outta the way. I don’t wanna disturb father, he had a rough night. Michael has been sleeping through the whole day because of it. Or at least I think. The door is closed, anyways. Gabriel and Luci have been checking on him, so I think he’s oka-”_

_Castiel got interrupted in the middle of a word, by a knock on the door. He put his pen down, folded the letter carefully and stood up. He wobbled on his feet for a minute, feeling his blood pressure betray him. When he’d regained his balance he made his way over to the door, pushing it open a few centimeters._

_"Yes?” he asked, peering outside and finding himself staring into the dark brown eyes belonging to Gabriel. He looked tired, too tired for an eleven year old, but still carried his usual sly smile even though it looked a bit more grim right now. A bit more like a lie._

_“Go pack your bags, Castiel”, he said. Castiel flinched at the use of his full name. Gabriel almost never used it, and even though Castiel hated the ridiculous nicknames he was given, it felt strange to hear his full name in Gabriel’s voice._

_“Pack? Where are we going?” Castiel spoke quietly, as always. He was taught to speak that way, taught not to disturb anyone. “Does father know?”_

_Gabriel shook his head, reached out and corrected the collar of Castiel’s shirt. “No, he don’t. And he won’t know until we’re out, okay? We’re leaving, Cas.”_

_The smile lost it’s grimness, and Gabriel were back to using nicknames. The air changed, becoming tense, but still comforting through the reassuring smile belonging to Castiel’s older brother._

_"Right. I’ll be down in five minutes, okay?” Castiel whispered, and closed the door. He stood like that a while. Hand resting on the handle, eyes closed and thoughts darting rapidly through his head. They were leaving. Actually leaving…_

_Castiel smiled, straightened his back and turned back to his unfinished letter by the desk._

_I’ll finish this later, he thought, and put the letter in his shoebox, together with the other letters, written throughout the years, that he’d never got to send._

* * *

 

They had escaped the house, the night of the 21st of July, 2008. They had left the mansion in southern Wyoming, and two days later they arrived in Lawrence, Kansas. Michael still held a great amount of respect for their old man, though, despite the stuff he’d put the brothers through. Castiel hated him for it, Michael, that is, he hated how his older brother could forgive him, forgive the _monster_ , so easily. The other brother’s, Gabriel and Lucifer, were somewhere in between the two camps; Castiel and Michael. Lucifer loved their father to death, but shortly before the sort-of-divorce-can-you-even-divorce-your-father-shit they’d had some sort of fight, which left Lucifer being freakishly mad with everyone. And Gabriel was… Gabriel. Castiel didn’t think he ever gave two shits about anything, he always seemed so carefree...

Speaking of Gabriel and being carefree, he was lying in the top bunk in the room he and Castiel shared, looking through magazines of different kinds (humor, pornos, you name it…). He barely glanced at Castiel when he burst through the door and slammed his books down on the lower bunk. The older brother huffed a laugh, carefully folded a dog-ear on a page that he found particularly amusing.

“Don’t wind yourself up too tightly, Cassie”, he said calmly, continued on talking and flicking through the magazine while Castiel tried to protest against the nickname; “You’re obviously worrying over something, and I don’t think it’s school. Not solely, anyways. But whatever stick you’re shoving up your ass, it’s probably not that bad in the long run.”

“Shut up, Gabriel”, Castiel muttered, sitting down with his back leaned against the bed frame, head placed in his hands. He could hear the older Novak-brother murmur something along the lines of “whatever, hotpants” before targeting his attention towards his magazine again. Castiel sighed, removing his reading glasses and closed his eyes.

Gabriel was right though, it wasn’t only school that made Castiel distant this weekend, nor was it the memories of the life before Kansas, but the thought of Dean Winchester. Right after the incident with the door, Castiel had gone straight home - well, after school’d ended, of course -  and looked him up in Gabriel’s yearbook from the year before. He’d found him amongst the freshmens, wearing plaid over a dark gray t-shirt. And his name, Dean Winchester. During the past week, he’d been literally everywhere. In the cafeteria, talking to a red-haired, bespectacled girl. In the library, flicking through _Busty Asian Beauties_ , hidden in a geography book. Washing oil stains off his hands in the boy’s bathroom. Everywhere Castiel was, Dean Winchester appeared, and everytime their gazes met, Dean would smile a crooked smile before continuing on with his life, leaving Castiel in a confused cluster of feelings and thoughts.

* * *

 

It took Castiel the next couple of days to realize that the girl he’d seen Dean with in the cafeteria, the red-haired one, took English together with him. Actually, he didn’t even realize until they got paired up to work on a presentation. Apparently her name was Charlie Bradbury, and Castiel liked her from the first moment, because when the teacher - Mr Evans, an old man with about as much memory span as a goldfish - called his name, she found him directly without asking the, oh-so-usual, “who?”. So, naturally, Castiel liked her.

“You’re Castiel”, she said matter-of-factly, and moved an empty chair so she could sit opposite him. Castiel nodded slightly, cleared his throat.

“And you are, uh, Charlie”, he countered.and Charlie nodded. ”You’re Dean Winchester’s friend…”

Charlie stared at him for a moment, before bursting out in laughter. Castiel blushed, felt all of his, non-existent, confidence disappear. He wasn’t very good with words, awkward as a rock.

“I guess”, Charlie huffed after she’d calmed down - rather, after Mr Evans had snapped at her to be quiet - and put a hand reassuringly over Castiel’s. “It’s okay, by the way. Don’t feel silly, because then I’ll feel silly. Let’s just get to work, m’kay?”

Castiel nodded, smiling faintly.

* * *

 

Working with Charlie were loads of fun, and Castiel actually felt at ease with himself as the lesson ended. Charlie had complemented his bumblebee-sketches and had been talking about stuff Castiel did not really understand. Tvshows he hadn’t seen, music he hadn’t listened to and so on and so forth. Though, he didn’t mind it at all. To just have someone, who wasn’t his brothers, talk to him felt so surreal and lovely. Castiel nearly forgot the upcoming trauma of _gym class_ , and sighed deeply when he remembered.

“What’s wrong?” asked Charlie while packing up her stuff. Castiel was taken aback by the concern, and just stared at the bespectacled girl for a moment before regaining his senses.

“I, uh, I had forgotten that I have gym class today, and it’s not really… it’s not my favourite subject. That’s all, really.” He smiled at her, trying to look reassuring.

“Then, skip it?” Charlie suggested. “I usually do, when I don’t feel like it. Blame it on period cramps or something.”

“Well, that’s not really an option for me, is it?” Castiel remarked with a smirk. Charlie shrugged and replied with; “Guess not. Anyway, I’ve got chemistry in two minutes. See you later, Cas.”

Castiel remained standing, watched Charlie’s back sprite disappear down the hallway. He smiled faintly, only for himself to feel, before he, himself, disappeared down the hall. Maybe High School wasn’t so bad, after all.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was strange to write, and I feel as I really struggled with it. But I managed to get through it, and I'm happy with the result.  
> I hope you guys are too, and if you are, don't forget to leave support. It helps and motivates a lot.  
> x


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